Galaxies in the mountains

We're living on a small planet we call Earth. Our planet is located about two-thirds of the way out from the center of out home galaxy the Milky Way, that's about 26,000 light-years away from the center. In this photo you can see the Milky Way stretching up in the sky from behind the mountains.

Our closest neighboring galaxy is the Andromeda galaxy, it's located about 2,5 million light-years. It is the most distant object in the sky that you can see with your unaided eye. Here you can see Andromeda close to the center of the photo as a small disc shaped object. It apparent size in the sky is actually four times the size of a full Moon, but since its outer regions are so dim, we just see the much brighter center of the galaxy.

These two galaxies are actually on a collision course and will eventually merge together. But don't worry, it won’t happen for another 4 billion years. But just for a second, try to imagine what it will look like when Andromeda is much closer to us, that will really be some view.

The bright shining object down to the left is the Moon. At the time of this photo it was about 40% lit but since I used a long exposure time to expose for the Milky Way, the Moon is extremely over exposed.

This photo is a 7 shot panorama shot using a Nikon D810A with a Nikon AF-S 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens. Exposure for each photo was 20 seconds, ISO 1600 with f/4.0

Two galaxies in the night sky

Follow my work in social media
http://www.facebook.com/fotografgoranstrand
http://www.instagram.com/Astrofotografen
http://twitter.com/Astrofotografen

Looking back in time

When observing the night sky we're looking back in time. The light from the stars we see have traveled for many years before it reaches us here on Earth. In this photo of the Milky Way and an old church ruin, we can take a look in the past.

The big red nebula near the center is the North American Nebula. The light from this nebula had been traveling for about 1500 years before it reach my camera this night. As a comparison, the old ruin in the foreground is from a church that was build 900 years ago. When they started building that church in 1200 AD, the nebula light I caught on this night had done 60% of it's distance to Earth.

At the top of the image you can see the Andromeda galaxy as a small disc shaped object under the tree. The light from Andromeda has traveled for 2,5 billion years before it reach my camera. When that light started its journey, the first members of the genus Homo appeared on Earth.

It's quite mind blowing to think of this while standing under a starry night sky.

Nikon D810A + Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14 mm f/2.8
Exposure 20 sec. at ISO 3200

Follow my work in social media
http://www.facebook.com/fotografgoranstrand
http://www.instagram.com/Astrofotografen
http://twitter.com/Astrofotografen

The size of the Andromeda Galaxy

It was quite some time since I photographed the Andromeda galaxy so last night I had another go at it. For this photo I used a total exposure time of 75 minutes to bring out the details in the galaxy.

It is the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way with a distance of 2.5 million light-years. Just stop and think for that a minute, the light has traveled 2.5 million years before it arrived to Earth. Since the speed of light is ~300 000 km per second, we can quite easily come to the conclusion that the Andromeda galaxy is extremely far away.

But, since it at the same time is extremely big, its size in the sky is as big as 6 full moons placed next to each other.

In this photo I took last night I've included the size of the Moon as it appears in the sky, just so that you can get an idea on how big the Andromeda galaxy really is in the sky. Since the light from the galaxy also is very faint due to the long distance, we can just barley see the galaxy with the naked eye. But if we could see it in its full glory, this is how big it would look compared to the Moon. Quite a view.

Nikon D810A, Nikon AF-S 300mm/f2.8, 75 minute exposure, ISO 1600

Follow me on social media

https://www.facebook.com/fotografgoranstrand
https://instagram.com/astrofotografen
https://twitter.com/astrofotografen

Pink Aurora and the Milky Way

Lets celebrate the weekend with some pink and green aurora together with our galaxy the Milky Way, our neighboring galaxy Andromeda (Disc shaped object close to center), planet Venus (Bright dot to the left) and a satellite (Bright streak).

Follow me on Instagram - https://instagram.com/astrofotografen

Grande finale?

Den astronomiska natten har nu upphört här i Östersund. Det råder astronomisk natt då solen är mer än 18 grader under horisonten och nu när de ljusa sommarmånaderna närmar sig, kommer solen inte längre att gå under denna brytpunkt vilket innebär att det inte längre blir helt mörkt om nätterna.

Jag och två kompisar åkte ut för att se om den utlovade solvinden skulle orsaka något norrsken, men så blev det inte. Istället fick vi en magisk kväll med flera fina observationer. Vi såg bland annat en smal månskära gå ned mot horisonten samtidigt som den färgades allt rödare. Kometen PanStarrs syntes fortfarande, men inte med blotta ögat. Andromedagalaxen lyckades jag urskilja med blotta ögat, men det går snart inte längre på grund av de ljusa nätterna som kommer. Planeten Jupiter som gjort oss sällskap under hela vintern kommer att synas ett tag till.

Sammantaget en magisk sista natt med varmt väder (Runt 0 grader Celsius) och helt vindstilla. Mestadels stod jag bara och njöt av stjärnhimlen med en känsla av vemod. Nu är som sagt den astronomiska natten slut här i norr och vetskapen att det dröjer ett halvår innan jag får se mina stjärnor igen är lite jobbig, samma visa varje vår. Och inte minst kometen PanStarrs, var det sista gången vi sågs?

---

The astronomical night has now come to an end here in Östersund. There is astronomical night when the sun is more than 18 degrees below the horizon, and now when the bright summer months approaching, the sun will no longer go below this point, which means that it is no longer completely dark at night.

Me and two friends went out to see if we could see any auroras, but we didn't see any during the entire night. Instead we had a magical evening with some excellent observations. We saw a crescent Moon set behind the horizon. Comet PanStarrs was still visible but not with the naked eye. I did manage to see Andromeda Galaxy with the naked eye, but that won't be possible soon because of the bright nights to come. The planet Jupiter will still be visible for some time.

All in all, a magical last night with warm weather (around 0 degrees Celsius) and no wind. Mostly, I was just enjoying the starry night with a sense of sadness. As I said earlier, the astronomical night is soon over and the knowledge that it will take half a year before I get to see my stars again is a bit sad, same ting every spring. And not least comet PanStarrs, was this the last time we saw each other?